Extra Services

Okinawan returns to Japan with new heart

Date Posted: 2002-01-17

Nineteen-year-old Okinawan Shingo Aragaki returned to Japan on Jan. 8 after undergoing a donation-funded heart transplant in Los Angeles last October. The young man had suffered from intractable heart disease. Although turning 20 this year, Aragaki was unable to attend his Coming-of-Age Day ceremony on Sunday due to an enforced stay in a circulatory-disease hospital in Osaka. He was, however, able to participate in the festivities by sending a videotaped personal message in which he announced that he hopes to work in the medical field.